Max Verstappen has been the most dominant driver of the 2023 season, so far. However, according to Red Bull’s chief advisor Dr. Helmut Marko, his dominant run might be at risk in Austria. This is because Marko believes that Ferrari would be a very difficult team to beat at the Red Bull Ring.
This would come as a surprise to many, given how much Ferrari has struggled throughout the season and has not even been able to come close to the RB19 of Verstappen. However, according to Marko, Ferrari was the fastest team at the Canadian GP. The Austrian engineer has claimed that Ferrari can give them proper competition in Austria if they can keep up the form that they showed in Canada.
The Canadian GP was won comfortably by Verstappen, and the Ferraris could not even finish in the top 3. Charles Leclerc finished P4 while Carlos Sainz finished P5. However, what must be noticed is that they had started the race from P10 and P11 respectively, and put on a massive recovery drive. In comparison, neither of the top 3 finishers gained or lost any positions.
Helmut Marko anticipates Ferrari’s comeback
Coming on the back of the Canadian GP performance, Marko believes that Ferrari will have a strong outing in Austria. He explained that the nature of the Red Bull Ring suits the Ferrari SF23 and they can be quite fast around the track.
Marko said, “The Red Bull Ring suits Ferrari well.” He explained that it would be even more trouble for Verstappen if Leclerc manages to get onto the front row during qualifying. If that happens, then, “it won’t be a great race for Max”, according to Marko.
Talking about Red Bull’s escapade in Canada, he explained that it was a difficult race for the Milton Keynes outfit. They had quite a bit of an issue with getting the correct temperature on their hard tires.
Marko also admitted that the Canadian GP was much harder than they thought it would be and Ferrari was faster than them on both the soft and the hard tires. So, the only saving grace for Red Bull was that Ferrari had started the race from P10 and P11.
Ferrari has a long way to go
Ferrari’s recent run of form has been highlighted by a plethora of strategy errors, bad decisions, and driver mistakes. They haven’t had the best of starts to the 2023 season.
Ever since their dip in form in the middle of the 2022 season, Ferrari has found it difficult to regain their footing. Even though some of it has improved, there are a lot of factors that need to be addressed within the team.
Sainz had made it very clear that it was during the second half of the 2022 season itself when he got the first indications that Ferrari is lacking in race pace compared to Red Bull. It would take quite a bit of effort because the Maranello outfit can claw themselves back into contention for race wins.
